David V. Wenzel

David lives and works in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The first creative moment he remembers is being three years old and choreographing sword fights while watching 1953's Knights of the Round Table. Since then, his mediums have advanced from a sword to a pen, and his desire to impact the world around him continues to grow. Today, he is an Idea Architect for RobinHood Ink., a content development firm focused on consulting with the stories of individuals and organizations as they seek to communicate with their audience. In 2009, he was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor, yet he continues to fight on with a faith in a God who heals.

Mandy Thompson

MANDY THOMPSON is an ever-evolving artist whose current obsessions include mixed-media and iPhoneography. She fell in love with a preacher ten years ago and they make their home near the Georgia coast where she’s learning that faith, much like life, isn’t always sunshine and rainbows. Mandy vulnerably shares her life and faith through various forms of art, be it painting or singing or writing. And on Sundays, she leads worship while her husband does the preaching.

Stephanie Smith

STEPHANIE SMITH is a 20-something writer, editor, and book publicist addicted to print and pixels. In addition to her business, (In)dialogue Communications, Stephanie is a member of the Redbud Writers Guild and blogs about the Incarnation and embodied faith. She lives with her husband in Upstate New York.

Tracee Persiko

TRACEE PERSIKO is a counselor, speaker, world traveler, and cross-cultural coach residing in Nashville. Her bucket list is filled with the crossed off adventures of swimming with Great White sharks, skydiving, and the hopes of bungee jumping. She writes through her experiences of brokenness and battles with lifelong grief. She is passionate about loving deeply and helping others journey through the hard parts of their stories to experience the true Healer.

Blaine Hogan

BLAINE HOGAN worked as a professional actor for 12 years. Blaine now acts as the creative director for multiple projects and at Willow Creek Community Church. A graduate of the Seattle School, he lives just outside of Chicago with his wife, Margaret, and their daughter, Ruby.

David Hickman

DAVID HICKMAN serves as the founder and lead visionary of CharlotteONE, providing the overall leadership and strategic thinking for this unified movement of local churches. He earned a B.A. in Bible and Religion from Montreat College and a Master of Divinity degree from Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary. David and his wife Monica live in Charlotte with their two boys, Ryan and Cole.

Jeff Goins

JEFF GOINS was born in the suburbs of Chicago, IL. During a study abroad program in Spain, where his life was forever changed, he fell in love with travel. Jeff graduated from Illinois College with a B.A. in Spanish and Religion. He spent a year after college touring with a band, playing music all over North America and Taiwan. In 2006, he moved to Nashville, TN, where he now lives with his family. Jeff works for Adventures in Missions, an international non-profit organization.

Sarah Cunningham

SARAH CUNNINGHAM is an idea junkie who blogs about creativity and collaboration. In addition to writing books, she happily sinks her imagination into events and projects that attempt to stir extraordinary things in a sometimes too-ordinary world. Sarah is a quirky person of faith, also known as the "skinny white girl" who teaches urban teens and as the chief servant to the bossy 2 year old emperor, Justus. She lives with Justus, Coach Cunningham, and their manic Jack Russell terrier, Wrigley, in "Prison City" (nicknamedsuch because it is home to one of the largest correctional facilities in the world).

October 2012 – and beyond

But this isn’t the end! Great stories do not stand alone. They are complete when they stand beside and are intertwined with others’ stories. You have a story, and a unique place in God’s story. Perhaps this book has become your own inciting incident or maybe it has simply inspired you to express a story you have never told. We would love to hear it. Let’s continue this project. Whether through written word, artwork, or song… Join these authors and share your story with the world.

September 2012

One year from its conception—the inciting incident for this project—the book is complete. Inciting Incidents is released at STORY 2012. In itself, it is a piece of art. Meant to be looked at, enjoyed, and savored. We hope that Inciting Incidents will inspire, challenge, and provoke you to consider your own story, your own ups and downs, and how they are all a part of God’s great Story.

May 2012

Although the content that was submitted excelled in artistic beauty, the project was approaching deadline and many details fought to stray. Artwork needed to be curated and final edits demanded attention. The “10-month turnaround” release date of September 1st was approaching fast!

March 2012

As the stories and the writing began to pour in, and the artists’ creativity and passion for story was finally put on paper, it became clear how significant this project really was. Stories were coming in about depression, brokenness, the pressure of performance, and the panic that every artist faces at some point in his creative process. The stories were awesome. What was at first a daunting task clearly became a work of God. The project surged forward and the result was more beautiful than anyone had imagined it would be.

December 2011

We began pulling six creatives together into one cohesive project. Jeff Goins, David Hickman, Blaine Hogan, Tracee Persiko, Mandy Thompson, and David Wenzel all jumped on board to share their own Inciting Incidents. This project would be made or broken on these stories… and each of these contributors worked hard and quickly to meet some pretty tough deadlines.

November 2011

The book began to take shape as the idea of Inciting Incidents came to be. What are those moments, those pivotal stretches of our lives, that often make the most difference in our spiritual, vocational, relational, and creative worlds? The project now had a scope—all we needed were some stories to tell! We even got some amazing cover art from Zach McNair.

October 2011

The project leapt from dream to reality as Sarah Cunningham, STORY's Director of Strategic Partnerships, was brought on board. Excited to be a part of this unique collaboration, she quickly began to put the pieces of this complicated puzzle together by curating the stories and working to gather the participants. Stephanie Smith, an expert in word-smithing, storytelling, and memoir agreed to join the team as our Developmental Editor on the project.

September 2011

While attending STORY 2011 in Chicago, the members of the Moody Publishers’ Millennial Generation Publishing Team were moved by what they experienced. They came away wanting to champion stories and storytellers by capturing the experience in the form of a written story project. The dream was to pull together a collaboration of many artists who embody the creative struggle in the midst of a broken world. This would be a project of storytellers coming together to share their stories and draw inspiration from each other’s stories.